Multiple districts — Chalky footsteps leading up to a diorama of a museum exhibit on baseball made for a mysterious illustration to complement fifth-grader Miles Rauch’s story, “The Missing Ball.”
Miles, a Rockford Public Schools Crestwood Elementary student who plays baseball himself, used the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s Detroit Tiger Autographed Baseball Exhibit as inspiration for the diorama and his story, a project combining history, art and English Language Arts.
The whodunit and diorama and hundreds of other projects were on display during GR Immerse Education Showcase, at which students from 28 greater Grand Rapids area schools displayed their own museum-inspired pieces and presentations tied to their weeklong experience in the GRPM Immerse program. Dioramas, demonstrations, posterboards and other projects were exhibited on all three floors of the museum.
“It was really fun. I like how you could be really creative,” said Miles, of his class’ Immerse experience earlier this school year.
Learning Comes to Life
The showcase is the culminating event of the Immerse program, said GRPM Lead Educator Ashleigh Palmiter. In this flagship educational program of the museum, students spend five days delving deep into all facets of the museum and then are challenged to create a project tied to their experience.
“It’s all student-driven; lots of voice and lots of choice,” she said.
Related: These fourth-graders learned about making an impact during this year’s Immerse experience
Before the school year begins, Palmiter meets with teams of teachers whose classes are participating in Immerse to plan and brainstorm projects.
Many teachers align their visit and project to grade-level curriculum standards. Crestwood fifth-grade teacher Mikeel Noreen, for example, explained the lesson behind pairing mystery stories with dioramas on museum exhibits, making for intriguing tales:
“The students got to take something from the museum, whether it be an exhibit or an artifact, and they got to create dioramas that went along with that thing,” Noreen said. “Then we tied in our ELA curriculum. The fifth-graders have to write mystery stories, so their mystery story is based on their exhibit.”
History, Art, Science, Culture
The breadth of students’ learning spanned everything from prehistoric times to the solar system, and resulting projects ranged from individual pieces to Northview Public Schools West Oakview Field School’s class quilt based on the study of the Underground Railroad and its Michigan ties.
Grand Rapids Public School Cesar Chavez Elementary fifth-grader Lecio Ugalde showed off his brightly lit display of planets among classmates’ displays on Egypt, the Grand River and dinosaurs.
He said he learned that Pluto is a dwarf planet, among many other facts, during Immerse.
“The planetarium was my best experience,” he said.
Kentwood Public Schools Explorer Elementary fifth-grader Augusta Bonzheim researched cameras and created a poster presentation on three digital models after studying museum exhibits and considering what to add to her project.
“I learned a lot of different things,” she said. “There were a lot of ways we could have presented information and this is how I chose to do it.”
Godfrey-Lee Public Schools Godfrey Elementary fourth-grade teacher Laura Pebley and art teacher Rosanne Steffens’ students shared art pieces tied to the museum’s Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium, including space travelers and space vehicles with design and color choices based on countries represented at the International Space Station.
Pebley said Immerse was a brand new experience for many of her students and parent volunteers, many of whom are English-language learners.
“For about half of them, it’s their first time at the museum, so they get exposure to what it’s like to be in a museum and how to navigate this kind of space,” she said. “The learning that happens within that week is something we can’t always make happen during the school year.”
Read more from our districts:
• Immersed in history, science, culture at Grand Rapids Public Museum
• Student-led Black History Museum highlights migration
